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I haven't been able to post an update since Tray 15. There has been so much going on at home. Unfortunately, my father-in-law passed away. He was taken to the emergency room with heart failure right after I posted my last blog post. He was in the hospital for 2 weeks, but there was nothing further they could do for him, so he was sent to hospice. He made a wonderful rebound while he was there and had more energy than I've seen him have in months, which was wonderful. We got to spend a great
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Went to my 6 week ortho check up and got trays 14, 15 & 16. Getting closer to the end of the initial treatment round. I have 24 trays but the last 3 are all over-correction trays, so we're more than likely moving to refinements once Tray 21 is done. My ortho said my teeth are tracking along perfect and he's happy with how my arches are widening, especially my lower arch.

Well, I switched to Tray 13 last night. I'm happy to report that Tray 12 did NOT crack...YAY! First time since Tray 7 that I didn't get a crack between my canine & premolar. I think (as you'll see from the pic) that since my canine has started to move down in to position, it's not putting so much pressure in that area anymore.

I finally got off my lazy rear end and scanned in my "before" photo from the ortho. I'm completely embarrassed about how awful my teeth look.
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I'm finally starting to see progress on my lower teeth. This tray set also has 2 power ridges. One is on my lower right tooth (the one that sticks out), which is pushing it backwards in to place. The other is behind my upper left, which is pushing it forward. That upper tooth has moved further and further behind
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Well, it's gonna happen: I'm slated to get elastics down the road. My ortho just confirmed with me today. I asked about the precision cuts on my lower trays and asked him if it meant I was getting elastics. He said that he had planned for elastics just in case my canines weren't moving the way he liked. So far, they're tracking well. However, he said once my trays have pushed my teeth out far enough to make room, we're using the elastics to help pull the canines in line.

I just realized I forgot to upload a photo of Tray 10! For some reason, my teeth look really yellow in this pic...eeek! They don't look this bad in real life. Maybe my lighting was bad. Any how, I'm definitely getting whitening done when my treatment is complete.

On a happy note, after my last post, I'm glad to report that I'm getting my sense of taste back. I was really getting worried. I went almost 2 weeks with no taste whatsoever. It is AWFUL to have food in your mouth
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Ugh! What a week it's been. I'm currently on day 11 of tray 9. I've had problems in the past with my aligner cracking between the canine "fang" and the 1st premolar on the left side. Last night, not only did the aligner crack there, it also cracked in the middle of the attachment bubble on my front left tooth. It split from the bubble all the way to the top of the aligner. This means there's nothing pushing that incisor to the left and I can definitely notice it feels like nothing
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Went to the ortho for my 6 week check up. Picked up trays 8, 9 & 10. We had some trouble getting the lower tray on. It fit on one side, but would not go over my molars on the right side. My ortho had to pry them off my teeth with a metal pick, they were on so tight. Once he got them off, he tried seating them starting from the right first and then they popped right on...whew!

Just wanted to celebrate...I was accepted into nursing school!!! I'm thrilled beyond belief. I applied to a very competitive program and was selected as one of the 32 out of over 750 applicants. YAY!!!! I've been working so hard towards this goal and now the journey begins

Going to see the ortho on Wednesday to pick up trays 8, 9 & 10. Hoping my upper left canine isn't having tracking issues. Last tray was very difficult to put in and there's another crack
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